Is plastic really a pollutant? Why ban plastic?

“Banning plastic is not a solution; improving Waste Management is.”

While purchasing a plastic bottle, we generally prioritize our comfort by recalling the “use & throw” technique. Henceforth, it is now a regular practice of human beings.

If we talk about the 1920s era, then the record says that natural polymers such as cellulose, shellac, rubber, etc., were the mainstay of the society until the advent of synthetic polymers such as graphene neoprene, nylon, polyethylene, etc. In the last 100 years, synthetic polymers, viz: plastics, have made significant inroads into all spheres of society. At the same time, it has resulted in a boon for the consumers and industry simultaneously observed and exaggerated as a scourge to the environment, animals, fish, birds, and all living species.

Keeping all factors aside about Plastic, have you ever thought about what are pollutants? And What are those actual substances which are contributing to damaging the environment? We all know that pollution introduces harmful materials into the atmosphere. These toxic materials are called pollutants. These pollutants damage the quality of air, water, and land. For that matter, not only Plastic but metal and cotton clothes too are more dangerous to the environment. Metal cannot degrade biologically, and its surface becomes corroded and toxic with time. Still, we are focusing on exaggerating only plastic as a bane.

Let us try to tackle the issue the other way. Did you know? In supermarkets, grapes sold in sealed trays have reduced waste in stores by over 20%. From supermarkets to our homes, plastic packaging gives us more time to consume food, further preventing food waste. Compared to alternative materials, plastics result in over a 60% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. Food waste can be as high as 50% during transport without plastic packaging. That’s not enough; with the help of plastic packaging shelf life of eatables has extended. Plastics are inert and do not react chemically with other substances.

People often debate banning Plastic, but no one throws light upon why we should consider Plastic? Because of its inertness, versatility, durability, strength-to-weight ratio, and lower economic cost. The problem lies in the waste management of Plastic.

Cleaning up plastics is a massive task. Breaking plastics into constituents requires a tremendous amount of energy.

However, being a part of the growing innovative world, there are now enormous measures developed by scientists and are being practiced by all the plastic suppliers or manufacturers. Scientists have worked for decades to create sustainable plastics, which help address the abundance of non-sustainable plastics. Plastics now have a better profile. Only 4% of the world’s oil production is used for plastics, and much less energy is used to produce. Plastics are durable yet lightweight and thus save weight in cars, packaging, tanks, pipework, etc.

We often find news articles illustrating water bottles lying on seashores and Plastic being dangerous to marine life. Still, in India, Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is 95% recycled. Fortunately, few ongoing practices like using biodegradable or plant-based plastics, reusable plastics, renewable plastics, recycling plastics, etc., lead to plastic sustainability. Let’s not deny that plastics make an immense contribution to environmental sustainability. Moreover, in the recent past, some of the critical steps to make plastics sustainable have been introduced by various countries and organizations, such as

• Bangladesh took the lead in 2002 to ban single-use plastic bags, which was indeed a great initiative.
• Few countries have made it mandatory to use reusable water bottles.
• A new class of biodegradable plastic products has come to the market to minimize the disposal problem.
• Companies see value in their waste within their premises and try to maximize the reusing technique by collecting it back from the consumers.
• A massive rag picking industry in developing countries gives employment and collects plastic trash to be recycled.
• Before entering rivers and streams, steps to capture plastic waste are underway, such as plastic fisher.
• Boyan Slat, a young Dutch boy, has fired up the millennial mind by proposing various solutions to prevent plastics from going to the ocean and cleaning up the plastic present in oceans without affecting aquatic life in the cleaning process. Remarkably his entire efforts are funded through crowdfunding.
• Japanese Inventor Akinori Ito’s carbon negative machine converts plastic bags and trash into fuel.

These live illustrations portray actual statistics about the plastics sustainability problem.

After seeing such a massive improvement, do we still require to ban Plastic? It is now entirely on us to decide whether to call it a boon or ban. It’s not Plastic that should ban; instead, waste management must be handled carefully.

We all use Plastic in some form or another in our daily lives. As a result, plastic waste management has become a significant concern. Many advanced steps, such as recycling, reclaimed, renewable plastic wastes, etc., have facilitated this management. Nevertheless, we must not contaminate the environment. We should start considering biodegradable plastics, such as using oxo-biodegradable additives that do not create microplastics. Alongside must focus on innovative techniques to help alleviate this waste management problem to achieve the future sustainable goal.